Typically, hog feeders that are designed for sows are designed with a trough and an upstanding feeding tube extending above the trough. These sow hog feeders are designed to be attached to a gate of a farrowing stall with the trough projecting through the gate into the stall while the feed tube is disposed on the outside of the gate. The major problems with sow feeders of the past is that they are designed such that the sow, during the feeding process, is able to waste tremendous amounts of food. It is not uncommon for sows to root within a trough filled substantially with food and to drop large quantities of feed outside of the trough and down through an open floor structure of the stall. The more food removed from the trough the more new feed that can be dispensed into the trough by the feed drop tube.
Another major problem with sow feeders of the past is that feed tends to become wet or moist and then cakes around the interior of the trough. This prevents feed from really being dispensed from the feed tube and again contributes to waste. Most importantly, the caking of feed in the trough requires that the hog feeders be cleaned often and this of course takes time and labor and thusly becomes expensive.
Therefore, there is a need and continues to be a need for a sow hog feeder that is designed to minimize waste and to avoid feed caking.